Now that the Penguins have Brenden Morrow, what to do with him?

When Ray Shero sat down to do the math involved in trying to decide who to acquire for the Penguins stretch drive to the playoffs, it didn’t take a genius to see how the numbers added up. Trading for Eastern European goal scorers(Kovalev, Poninkarovsky) = Playoff flame out whereas acquiring North American, hard nosed, gritty, leadership types(Roberts, Guerin) = Stanley Cup Finals. And because the numbers never lie, it was easy to see why Shero targeted a player like Brenden Morrow.

Morrow has Roberts and Guerin written all over him: Aging North American veteran (and one who has yet to drink from the Stanley Cup – The dream of every Canadian youngster), member of Canadian Olympic team, Captain of his former team ie, considered to be an excellent leader and a player not afraid to go to the dirty places.

Now that he has been acquired, the looming question is, “Where to play him”? Coach Dan Bylsma is way too smart of a hockey coach to mess with the number one line of Crosby, Kunitz and Dupuis which, by all accounts, is considered to be the best line in hockey right now. That leaves the second line to which, at some point, Evgeni Malkin will eventually return. Even the most uneducated hockey fan would know better than to remove James Neal from this line so that leaves young Beau Bennett. He’s the obvious choice, right? 21 year old rookie playing in his first season in the NHL, has no playoff experience, in fact, hasn’t really even had a chance to gel with Malkin as his Center due to Malkin’s recent injury. Before you jump to that conclusion, take a look to see that with his assist in last night’s game, Bennet now has nine points in his last 14 games, eight of which were played without Malkin as his Centerman. If you slot Morrow onto the second line, the only real option for Bennett is to be sent back to Wilkes-Barre for the remainder of the season. It would do neither him nor the Penguins any good to have him logging third or fourth line minutes or being a healthy scratch in the press box every night. The kid has to play, and he has to play top six minutes every night if he is going to continue to develop into the type of scoring forward the Penguins haven’t developed on their own in too many years.

That leaves Brandon Sutter’s third line. Now the question would be, “Who gets kicked off the line, Tyler Kennedy or Matt Cooke?” I guess it is at this point that you would have to decide what is the purpose of the third line. Usually, it is to shut down the other team’s top line. Is this what Brendan Morrow was acquired for? If that is the case, then Kennedy has to be the one removed as a Morrow-Sutter-Cooke line would be a force for any other team’s top line to have to play against. If you’re looking to try and get a little bonus offense from this line, then Cooke has to be the one taken off.

I have a hard time believing that the Penguins acquired Morrow to be a third line guy though especially when you consider that the team will be one player over the limit when Malkin returns. That leaves the team three options: 1. Hope another player gets hurt who can then be put on the IR. 2. Send a player back to Wilkes-Barre. They currently only have two players they can do this with, Simon Despres and you know that’s not happening and Beau Bennett. 3. Place someone on waivers and hope no one claims him. Can you say Dustin Jeffrey?

Even though Morrow’s offensive skills along with his speed have dropped a bit in the last couple of years, I love the fact that Shero looked and saw what worked for the Penguins before and what didn’t. And while past success is no guarantee of future results, I think the Penguins are a better team today than they were on Saturday.

Letang was just put on seven day IR to make room for newly acquired defenseman Douglas Murray. This puts the Penguins two guys over roster limit. My guess is Despres goes down if Letang comes back and Bennett goes down when Malkin returns. There is just no other way barring another trade.

Jeffrey would be claimed in a heart beat, so him on waivers isn’t happening. Look for Bennet to stay in the NHL and play with Sutter and Cooke. Shero is not going to qualify a tending offer of 2.1M to Kennedy next year so look for him to be moved.

Playing Bennett with Sutter and Cooke would be a total waste of Bennett’s skills. He’s not a grinder liner. He’s a top 6 guy, and if he’s not getting those kinds of minutes with the Pens, then you may as well send him down to WB

And while I do agree that Bennet is a top 6 guy, he brings more to the table playing with Cooke and Sutter then Kennedy does. Especially with Shero having to give Kennedy a qualifying offer of 2.1M next season. That’s NOT going to happen. Shero isn’t done and both Kennedy and Bortuzzo could find themselves somewhere else in the next week or so!

Absolutely. The reason he is still here is that he can’t be sent to WB w/out cleating waivers and he’d be snapped up in a heartbeat. He is here as an insurance policy right now in case any more defensemen get hurt. Next year, when Eaton is gone as well as possibly Engyland and (Very small chance) Martin, Bortuzzo will be a regular. Pens have already parted company with Strait, Sneep, Lovejoy and now Morrow. As for Bennett, play him on the third line, and you risk turning him into the next Tyler Kennedy or should I say, Ryan Stone, Jonathan Fillewich, Luca Caputi, Eric Tangradi, or Mark Letestu. Should I go on?

And of all those players you just mentioned, none of them have the talent of Beau Bennet. The kid can play! The only player who could even compare would be Letestu. He has skill but he just doesn’t have the size. Anyways my point is playing him on the third line on a stacked team will not hurt his development in any way. This way he still gets 12-15 mins a night and isn’t expected to be the go to guy just yet. Jagr was on the third line when the Pens won the cup for the very first time ever. Did that hurt his development? Not even close!

He makes a very cheap/serviceable keeper for next year. Currently, the Pens have 16 players locked up for $53.7 million. That means they have to fit 9 more guys in for $10.6 million. Morrow, Cooke, Dupuis and Adams are all UFAs, and Jeffrey and Kennedy are RFAs Assuming Morrow is gone, the three UFAshave to be resigned but at cap friendly enough numbers to allow for Letang’s $2.5 million/year increase the following year. Getting a guy like Bortuzzo on board for in the neighborhood of $500K makes a lot of fiscal sense unless you see them moving Martin and his $5 million to free up the cash, or you know better than the rest of us that one of Dumoulin, Harrington or Matta will be NHL ready next year.

Jeffrey will take over Kennedy’s 2 Million. Saving $1.4. I am not a Kennedy hater, in fact I’m a big fan, but he is worth Cooke money $1.25. The person I have never drank the koolaide with is Letang. The most overrated defenseman in the NHL. (yes I said that) I truly believe there are 10 or more guys out there that put in his position playing with the two best/top scoring players in the world would have twice as many points. He can’t shoot and he doesn’t have a clue how to set someone up for a one timer on the powerplay. The best part is that he is going to want more than the $2.5 million raise.

Hopefully by the time the Letang thing comes around a few of our other defensive prospects kick in. Bortuzzo I bet will be gone by deadline.

We’re going to have to agree to disagree on Bortuzzo. As for Letang, $6 million is the going rate for defenseman in the new lower salary capped NHL. It’s what Oliver Ekman-Larsson just signed for, and it’s what Suban will get after his one year deal expires. No one will ever get Ryan Suter, stupid money again.